Oral melatonin improves the detection of parasitemia in malaria

Introduction: Malaria is a growing global threat and a major cause of mortality in the tropics. The gold standard diagnosis is peripheral blood smear examination. It has been demonstrated that melatonin acts as messenger molecule in malaria pathophysiology. This concept was used to evolve a clinica...

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Main Authors: Chandan Kumar Kedarisetty, B Laksminarayana Samaga, Sudha Vidyasagar, Jayanthi Venkataraman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries 2020-11-01
Series:Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
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Online Access:https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/12518
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author Chandan Kumar Kedarisetty
B Laksminarayana Samaga
Sudha Vidyasagar
Jayanthi Venkataraman
author_facet Chandan Kumar Kedarisetty
B Laksminarayana Samaga
Sudha Vidyasagar
Jayanthi Venkataraman
author_sort Chandan Kumar Kedarisetty
collection DOAJ
description Introduction: Malaria is a growing global threat and a major cause of mortality in the tropics. The gold standard diagnosis is peripheral blood smear examination. It has been demonstrated that melatonin acts as messenger molecule in malaria pathophysiology. This concept was used to evolve a clinical study wherein use of exogenous melatonin could improve the chance of detection of the parasite. Methodology: In a prospective study, 80 consecutive patients seen in the Department of Medicine at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, suspected to have malarial fever were enrolled with proper informed consent, and randomly assigned to the groups given oral melatonin 3mg (melatonin group, n = 40) or placebo (control group, n = 40). Blood samples were collected for peripheral smear examination at baseline and then at two, three, four and five hours after drug administration. The primary end point was the parasite detection index. Results: Baseline characteristics of patients were comparable. In the melatonin group, there was a significant increase of 0.0943 ± 0.22 in the mean parasite index from 0.217 ± 0.42 pre-melatonin to 0.3114 ± 0.5 post-melatonin (p = 0.001), compared to a difference of 0.0025 ± 0.22 in mean parasite index before and after placebo in the control group (p = 0.95). The maximum rise in parasite detection was seen at five hours after melatonin. Conclusions: In a single centre study, for the first time, it has been shown that a significantly higher proportion of patients was diagnosed with malaria on peripheral smear after oral melatonin administration, maximal at five hours after administration of melatonin.
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spelling doaj-art-aebd395f252e4e32aa5e9c8fe59da7002025-08-20T02:27:11ZengThe Journal of Infection in Developing CountriesJournal of Infection in Developing Countries1972-26802020-11-01141110.3855/jidc.12518Oral melatonin improves the detection of parasitemia in malariaChandan Kumar Kedarisetty0B Laksminarayana Samaga1Sudha Vidyasagar2Jayanthi Venkataraman3Department of Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, IndiaDepartment of Medicine, K.S. Hegde Medical College, Mangalore, IndiaDepartment of Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, IndiaDepartment of Hepatology, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, India Introduction: Malaria is a growing global threat and a major cause of mortality in the tropics. The gold standard diagnosis is peripheral blood smear examination. It has been demonstrated that melatonin acts as messenger molecule in malaria pathophysiology. This concept was used to evolve a clinical study wherein use of exogenous melatonin could improve the chance of detection of the parasite. Methodology: In a prospective study, 80 consecutive patients seen in the Department of Medicine at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, suspected to have malarial fever were enrolled with proper informed consent, and randomly assigned to the groups given oral melatonin 3mg (melatonin group, n = 40) or placebo (control group, n = 40). Blood samples were collected for peripheral smear examination at baseline and then at two, three, four and five hours after drug administration. The primary end point was the parasite detection index. Results: Baseline characteristics of patients were comparable. In the melatonin group, there was a significant increase of 0.0943 ± 0.22 in the mean parasite index from 0.217 ± 0.42 pre-melatonin to 0.3114 ± 0.5 post-melatonin (p = 0.001), compared to a difference of 0.0025 ± 0.22 in mean parasite index before and after placebo in the control group (p = 0.95). The maximum rise in parasite detection was seen at five hours after melatonin. Conclusions: In a single centre study, for the first time, it has been shown that a significantly higher proportion of patients was diagnosed with malaria on peripheral smear after oral melatonin administration, maximal at five hours after administration of melatonin. https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/12518malariamelatoninfeversweating
spellingShingle Chandan Kumar Kedarisetty
B Laksminarayana Samaga
Sudha Vidyasagar
Jayanthi Venkataraman
Oral melatonin improves the detection of parasitemia in malaria
Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
malaria
melatonin
fever
sweating
title Oral melatonin improves the detection of parasitemia in malaria
title_full Oral melatonin improves the detection of parasitemia in malaria
title_fullStr Oral melatonin improves the detection of parasitemia in malaria
title_full_unstemmed Oral melatonin improves the detection of parasitemia in malaria
title_short Oral melatonin improves the detection of parasitemia in malaria
title_sort oral melatonin improves the detection of parasitemia in malaria
topic malaria
melatonin
fever
sweating
url https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/12518
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AT blaksminarayanasamaga oralmelatoninimprovesthedetectionofparasitemiainmalaria
AT sudhavidyasagar oralmelatoninimprovesthedetectionofparasitemiainmalaria
AT jayanthivenkataraman oralmelatoninimprovesthedetectionofparasitemiainmalaria